Weekly Report - 10 January 2019 (WR-19-01)

PERU: Vizcarra fortified as Chávarry oversteps

Peru’s President Martín Vizcarrahas got the better of the main opposition Fuerza Popular (FP, Fujimoristas) in a series of skirmishes in recent months but he has now won a potentially decisive battle: the attorney general, Pedro Chávarry, in theory non-partisan but in practice locked in a potent partnership with FP, has resigned. Chávarry was forced to step down after a fierce public, political, and judicial backlash to his decision on 31 December to dismiss the two special prosecutors leading the investigations into corrupt links between Brazil’s construction firm Odebrecht and, among others, Peru’s last four presidents and FP’s leader Keiko Fujimori. Ructions in FP followed, with resignations eroding the party’s dominance in congress.